Wednesday, October 7, 2009

I recently attended a discourse on “Samartha Ramadas” by Sri. Ranganji at West Mambalam. Sri Pandurangan, fondly called Sri Rangan Anna, born in 1977, is the second son of Sri Krishna Premi Swamigal. When Sri Sri Anna completed his Sevai to Sri Pandurangan in Pandaripur on Sivaratri, he came to know of Sri Bhagavan's sankalpam about his birth and hence he named him as Pandurangan. Sri Ranganji's stunning accomplishments include composition of 7000 verses in Sanskrit at the age of 13, translation of Sankara Bhashyam of Bramhasutra at the age of 18 and publication of 6 books on philosophy before the age of 25. He has committed to memory all the eight major Upanishads and most of the slokas of Ramayana at the age of 16. He is a maser story teller of Ramayanam. Please read on to know more about Sri Ranganji.

Dr. R.Rangan is a unique man of wisdom and simplicity. He was awarded Yoga-vidya-varidhi (a doctoral degree in Yoga from SVYASA, Bangalore). He also has a master’s degree of management from SIMS, Pune. He is a master of Vedas, Vedic Sanskrit, Upanishads and epics. His main inspiration is Sri Rama, whom he calls as his friend, philosopher and guide. His other great inspirations include his father, Sri Sri Krishnapremi swamigal, Sri Ranganatha Aiyer (also called as Sri Ramayana mama), Sri Shankara, Sri Ramanuja, Sri Madhva, Sri Ramananda, Sri Ramakrishna, Swami Vivekananda, Sri Ramana Maharshi, Sri Aurobindo, Dr. H.R. Nagendra, Sri Satyanaranayana shastri and last but not the least Sri Samartha Ramdas. He studied intensely all these philosophers.

He learnt Advaita-Vedanta in a traditional way from Sri Shivaramakrishna Shastri. Then he learnt the texts of Vishishtadvaita and Dvaita schools by himself out of interest. He learnt Vyakarana and Sahitya from Sri Tirumalachari, Srirangam. He learnt Bhakti-shastras like Bhagavatam from Sri Sri Krishnapremi swamigal, Sri Balakrishnashastri and Sri Hariji, Srirangam. Ramayana is his very nature. He is a great poet who composed seven thousand verses in samskrit even at the age of thirteen. He also composed beautiful poems in Tamil and English. He has authored many books on the Vedas and other scriptures giving their meaning and practicality for the present age. He translated Shankara bhashya of Bramhasutras in Tamil at the age of eighteen. He wrote a commentary of Bhagavad Gita synthesizing the commentaries of Shankara, Ramanuja and Madhva at the age of twenty eight. He did translation for various Vedic Mantras.

He has written a commentary of Brahmasutra in Samskrit. Uniqueness of this commentary is that it is based on Rig-Veda and Ramayana, while other commentaries are based mainly on Upanishads. He wrote thousands of research articles on Ramayana, Mahabharata, Vedas, Vedanta and Yoga before the age of twenty seven. He has published papers related to traditional Vedic education in International journal of Yoga. His articles were published by few spiritual and cultural magazines like Yoga-sudha, Bhagavata-Dharmam, Amman-Darshanam, Tattvaloka, Svadeshi and so on. He established a big study circle of Ramayana (Rama-kudumbam), while he was an under graduate. His concentration and memory are so powerful that he could memorize all the eight major Upanishads and most of the slokas of Ramayana at the age of sixteen.He is an expert in narrating Ramayana in a beautiful way which enthralls thousands of people. Therefore Tirukkovilur Jiyar Swamigal awarded him a title “Rama-kathamrita-varshi”. Dr. R.Rangan’s admirers include scientists, sociologists, psychologists, spiritualists and philanthropists. He could discover various concepts by observing the nature by the deep meditation. He is the one who developed Dharma model through which the concept of Dharma can be explored, understood and practiced in a systematic way. He is a consultant in various movements like SVYASA, Bangalore, Shruti Ram charitable and educational trust, Hosur, Brahmasabha, Chennai and Akhila-Bharata-Sadhusamajam, New Delhi. He is the founder president of Webolim (Web of Life Makers) which spreads the values of Vedas and usage of Vedic values in every day life. He conducts Vedic workshops in various places in India and abroad. He delivers discourses on Vedas, Vedanta and epics in many places and presented papers in various international Vedic conferences.